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7 things you need to know for World Microbiome Day
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June 27 is World Microbiome Day. Created in 2018, World Microbiome Day aims to gather international microbiome researchers to raise awareness of the diverse world of microbes.
The main theme of this year’s campaign is antibiotic resistance.
In recognition of World Microbiome Day, Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease has compiled a list of seven updates on topics involving the microbiome and antibiotic resistance, including how the gut microbiome may likely contribute to all diseases caused by a dysregulation of the immune system.
Just one antibiotic course could contribute to resistance
One course of antibiotics could expand the gut resistome in children, according to the results of a randomized clinical trial published in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Researchers suggested that azithromycin may cause more drastic changes to the gut microbiota compared with antibiotics in other classes.
Study author Catherine E. Oldenburg, PhD, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Francis I. Proctor Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology at the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues enrolled households with at least two children aged 6 months to 59 months in two rural communities in Burkina Faso. READ MORE.
Mass antibiotic dosing alters children's gut microbiome, improves mortality
Mass administrations of azithromycin in Niger resulted in significant changes in the bacterial gut microbiome composition in children aged up to 5 years, according to study results published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases. However, changes in the microbiome stemming from antibiotic use did not suggest the presence of disease but were instead associated with improvements in childhood mortality, researchers said.
Although mass antibiotic dosing may increase the risk for the spread drug resistance, they have been shown in previous research to reduce childhood mortality, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. READ MORE.
Bench to Bedside to Market and Back Again: Revolutionizing the Microbiome
Twenty years ago, when Mark Pimentel, MD, FRCP(C), released some of the first papers showing an impact on irritable bowel syndrome by eradication of bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine, he was met with disregard, disbelief and controversy.
“In 1999, when our first papers came out, we were ridiculed publicly at the big meetings,” he told Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease during a visit to Cedars-Sinai. “People did not believe what we were doing. Only when the word ‘microbiome’ emerged in 2003 and everyone was starting to study the microbiome, we began turning heads. Suddenly, maybe our work was interesting. Maybe it was important.” READ MORE.
Probiotic supplement reduces antibiotic resistance genes in infants
Supplementing breast milk with a probiotic strain of Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis EVC001 reduced the prevalence of antibiotic resistance genes among infants, according to recent data.
The findings suggest that B. infantis supplementation could be a safe and noninvasive way to decrease the burden and diversity of genes that are associated with resistance to a wide range of drugs, including beta-lactamases, fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines, Giorgio Casaburi, PhD, senior bioinformatics scientist at Evolve Biosystems Inc., and colleagues reported. READ MORE.
Microbiome may contribute to all immune-related disease
Multiple human and rodent studies suggest that the gut microbiome likely contributes to all diseases caused by a dysregulation of the immune system, according to James T. Rosenbaum, MD, who heads the division of arthritis and rheumatic diseases at the Oregon Health Sciences University.
“I submit to you that in any disease that has an immune component — whether it’s Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism, atherosclerosis, obesity, diabetes and any disease that you are seeing in your clinics with an immune component — the microbiome is having some effect,” Rosenbaum said in his presentation. “Whether it’s a small effect or a large effect, it is hard to say, but in these experimental rodents, it’s a huge effect. And one day, we will have therapy that is directed toward repairing or changing, or altering, that microbiome.” READ MORE.
Challenges remain, but microbiome may hold guide to inflammatory disease
Inflammatory bowel disease is known as a prototype for new-age diseases. It grew out of industrializing countries a little more than a century ago and the prevalence grew as populations exploded and lifestyles changed. Now, it is growing in countries with emerging industrialization, mirroring its original growth.
“This tells us that there are environmental influences on these types of disorders probably based on some kind of genetic background,” Eugene B. Chang, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Chicago, said during his presentation. “What causes these diseases? Why do only a small fraction of individuals that have genetic variants that are known to be associated with increased risk of disease get these diseases?” READ MORE.
High-fat diet linked to unfavorable gut microbiota changes
Eating a diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates can lead to changes in the gut at the microbiome level that could lead to the development of metabolic disorders, according to study results published in Gut.
Duo Li, PhD, of the Institute of Nutrition and Health at Qingdao University in China, and colleagues wrote that their findings could be important in countries where diets are becoming more westernized. READ MORE.